Another post for folks who live in Southern California...
If you're venturing anywhere near Hollywood and Highland in the next few days, be aware that streets are already closed because of the Academy Awards. This webpage tells you where and when.
Also: The Reprise! folks, who stage those wonderful musicals up at U.C.L.A., will present a one-night-only staged reading of It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman! on Monday, May 17. Tickets are now on sale and can be ordered through Ticketmaster.
One other thought about how the silliness of the poll cited in the previous message. People are asked if they'd vote for a person who'd been married three times. I guess this is to suggest that if you've been married three times, it must say something about your personality or your ability to deal with others or your devotion to your religion or something. But I know a guy who's been married three times because his first two wives died — one killed in a car crash two years after they were married; the second, taken by cancer after thirty-some-odd years of a wonderful, happy second marriage. Does getting married a third time reflect poorly in any way on this man?
Half the political blogs I'm reading this morning are linking to or reposting the above poll and noting how many people say they would not vote for an Atheist. That may be so but it may also be because the question is so overwhemingly hypothetical. The American people have never been confronted with an Atheist who seems otherwise qualified for the office. On the question of whether they'd vote for a woman, they can think about Hillary or Elizabeth Dole or Condoleeza Rice or any of several ladies who've become mayors or governors or representatives, and say, "Hmm...some of those, I could vote for." Someone might not be inclined to vote for any specific woman but it usually isn't the gender that's the reason. I don't think anyone will not vote for Hillary Clinton just because she's a she. Even if that bothers them, they'll find another justification.
I also think there's something silly about polls that ask you to decide your vote in a vacuum. We can all imagine an alternative so loathesome that people who say they wouldn't vote for a Jewish or gay or Black or whatever candidate would hold their noses and vote for the Jew, the gay, the Black, the whatever. In this country, we rarely vote for someone. We vote against someone or we vote for the least objectionable of two alternatives. In the Bush-Kerry election, I'd bet at least 70% of all the voters on both sides wished they'd had someone better to vote for than the guy they had to select.
But none of this is why I posted the above. What caught my interest is that everyone is discussing how voters feel about blacks or gays or Athiests or women...but no one is noticing that question in there about being 72 years old. If we believe this poll, 42% of the country wouldn't vote for someone who's 72 years old...and I'm assuming that means older candidates would do even less well.
Well, John McCain is 71 years old. In the next presidential election, he'll be 72.
I don't think 42% of this country would decline to vote for John McCain because of his age. They might refuse to vote for him because of his position on the Iraq War or his embrace of the Religious Right or his stance on abortion or any number of other reasons. But his age? I don't believe for a minute that would matter to anyone unless, maybe, they otherwise had a microscopic preference for him over his opponent. That never happens in this country.
For the record, Ronald Reagan was 69 when he ran for president in 1980. He was 73 when he won a second term. Bob Dole was 73 when he ran in 1996 but that's not the reason he lost.
Hey, lemme suggest something you should listen today if you're anywhere near your computer and Internet Access. My pal Stuart Shostak is interviewing Dwayne Hickman on Stu's Show, a two-hour program heard on Shokus Internet Radio. You probably know Dwayne best as the star of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which was just about the smartest, cleverest classic sitcom that isn't yet out on DVD. It and Car 54, Where Are You?
Dwayne is a very nice guy and one of the smartest people I've ever chatted with about the TV business. Actually, I knew him for a time when he was a programming executive over at CBS and it was always fascinating to hear him talk about television because he knew it from all angles: In front of the camera, behind the camera and way behind the camera, over at the network. He'd been a child star and worked with all the biggies.
So let's see: He's an actor and a writer and a production exec...oh, and did I mention he's an artist? In addition to everything else, he's a pretty good painter. There was a period of his life — I don't know if Stu will get to cover it with him — when he worked in Las Vegas for Howard Hughes. If he doesn't, I may call in and ask Dwayne to talk about that. Or if I want to get him mad, I may ask him about a dreadful Dobie Gillis revival special that was done by a company I was working for at the time. (I am a witness. The stories Dwayne tells about how a wonderful script was destroyed by the show's producer are all absolutely true.)
Do yourself a favor and tune in. It starts at 4PM Pacific time, which would be 7PM back East. Go to the website for Shokus Internet Radio and select an audio browser. That's all there is to it. (Note, by the way, that if you're tuned in when the show begins, you might get booted off and have log in again. That's a technical glitch that sometimes happens, but only at the start of some programs.)
If you've never tried listening to Internet Radio, you're in for a treat because there's some wonderful programming available for free and with great sound quality if you have any sort of decent web connection. Do what I do: Connect to the station of your choice, then minimize that window and go on with answering e-mail or writing something or playing Minesweeper while you listen. It's one more thing your computer can do for you.
Three mice — who seem to have about one tooth among them — sell Colgate Toothpaste with the help of a Mighty one. And remember, kids: You don't actually brush your own teeth with the stuff. You use it to polish the giant tooth nearby with a happy face on it. Who wrote these things?
February 22, 2007
